


friday night and the lights are low (lookin' out for a place to go)

by SpaceguyLewis



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Baby Clones (Star Wars), Cuddling & Snuggling, Gen, Mamma Mia! is a Universal Constant, Movie Night, Pillow & Blanket Forts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:28:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28337727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceguyLewis/pseuds/SpaceguyLewis
Summary: The Clone Wars are over, Darth Sidious has been defeated, and in a hallway of the Jedi Temple adjacent to the Archives, a handful of young clones are planning a movie night.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10
Collections: JangObi Shenanigans Secret Santa 2020





	friday night and the lights are low (lookin' out for a place to go)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aaskada](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaskada/gifts).



> Here we are Rabbit! one piping hot serving of baby clone cuddles! admittedly, the cuddles are only at the end because these children decided to PLAN AN INFILTERATION MISSION into the Archives.

Explore waved his  _ vod’e _ through the storage closet door, glancing back and forth down the hallway for any incoming people. The stakes were pretty negligible if they got caught these days, but there was a certain aspect of tension and suspense when they played up the sneaking aspect of their games that made them very enjoyable. Once Morph thumped his way through the door, arms full of pilfered blankets, Explore hit the button to shut and lock the door behind him. He turned to face his batchmates, the grins on their faces matching his own.

“Okay, Phase I of the plan is complete,” he cheered softly, and they replied with a quiet but enthusiastic chorus of  _ “Oya!” _

“Next up,” Explore said, pointing up to the vent in the ceiling above them. Surveil put her hands on her hips and leaned back dramatically, looking up at the grate of metal. “Is getting up into the ventilation system, following it to the big lamp above the fountain in the archives, and setting up our headquarters.”

“From the looks of the screws, I can get it open pretty easily,” Surveil reported, digging through her patchwork utility belt for her screwdriver. “Mill is gonna have to give me a boost though, I’m not tall enough to reach it by climbing on the shelves, and they don’t look too sturdy in the first place.”

“That’s fine, you’re not too heavy anyways, ‘veil,” Mill said, handing their armful of pillows to Explorer and crouching to let Surveil climb up onto their shoulders so she could reach the vent.

Surveil made quick work of the screws and clambered up into the roomy vent, then reached back down and beckoned her batchmates with her fingers.

“C’mon! If you jump I can grab your hands and pull you up.” She instructed. Explore was the first to do so, crouching and leaping into the air to grab his sister’s hand. She pulled him up into the vent with a soft grunt of effort, and when he was all the way in she looked back down again.

Instead of the sibling she was expecting, a stack of pillows was being raised into her reach. Morph looked up at her from around them, his cheeks creased in a grin.

“It’d be pretty dumb of us to all get up in the vent and leave our supplies behind,” he said, and Surveil nodded.

“It really would be,” she replied, and collected the pillows as best as she was able and stacked them neatly next to her. A soft metallic thump startled her and she looked to her left down the vent, only getting a glimpse of Explore’s boots as he rounded a corner on his hands and knees. 

“Don’t go too far, Explore!” Surveil called softly, taking a stack of sheets from Morph as she did so. “We don’t know if there are mouse droids down that section of the vents.” Explore poked his head back around the corner and stuck his tongue out at her playfully.

“It’s cool, ‘veil!” he responded. “All the vents are clean so they must’ve been through here recently.”

“Fair enough,” she shrugged, and set Morph’s knapsack down next to her foot. “Is that everything?” she called down to her batchmates, and Cipher nodded.

“Yep! Get your arms ready,  _ vod, _ I’m on my way up!” And Cipher  _ jumped _ . Surveil squeaked in surprise and just barely caught her sister at the zenith of her leap, then huffed and groaned in exertion to haul her up into the vent.

“Warn me next time, you skidplate!” Surveil scolded, then reached down for Mill’s hands. With a loud huff she pulled them up into the vent with her and they crawled next to her and got ready to help her grab Morph.

“Let’s go,  _ vod!” _ Mill called to him.

“Okay you two, get ready!” Morph replied, then jumped up and grabbed their and Surveil’s hands. They made straining sounds of exertion as they hauled Morph up into the vent, then thumped back against the metal of the duct to rest once he was safely inside.

There was a muffled chorus of thuds as Explore reappeared from around the corner, his face alight with a pleased grin.

“Good news! Turns out we don’t have to go up a vertical shaft after all. It’s a straight shot down the duct to the ceiling in the Archives that’s over the light fixture.” He reported, and Cipher let out a soft cheer.

“Yay! I had hoped that’d be the case, going up vertical vents sucks.” She collected a stack of pillows and began to crawl down the duct to join Explore. “Let’s go,  _ vod’e _ . We’ve got a secret fort to build!”

Together they collected their supplies, tucking pillows and blankets under their arms and crawling down the vent after Explore. They fell into a focused silence as they rounded the corner and continued down a straightaway. At the far end of the duct, Explore was waiting by another grate in the bottom of the duct.

“Surveil, your screwdriver skills if you please,” he whispered, and she carefully squeezed past her batchmates to undo the screws. She winced as the grate made a hideous scraping sound when she lifted it, then she set it against the inner wall of the vent shaft and poked her head down out of the newly opened hole.

Surveil could see the space above the sturdy lighting fixture that hung in the main room of the Grand Archives. Carefully, she dropped the six feet down onto the top of the light fixture, then paused. No one called out to her from the floors below, and she grinned.

“It’s safe,  _ vod’e! _ ” she whisper-shouted up at Mill and Explore, who were peeking over the rim of the hole in the ceiling. “And there’s no dust up here either, the mouse droids must run a tight ship.”

“Well, that’s good to hear,” Mill said as they dropped down next to Surveil and set their armful of blankets on the floor. “It’d be pretty gross if we had to build a fort in an inch of dust.” 

One by one, Mill and Surveil were joined by their three batchmates and their supplies. Cipher put her hands on her hips and looked around, then walked a little ways away from the vent grate and set the duvet in her arms down.

“Right here looks like a good place to put the fort,” she said. “It’s pretty well centered in the middle of the fixture, and it’s close to the vent if we need to make a quick escape.”

“Alright then!” Morph replied, and set the knapsack strung over his shoulder down. “Let’s get to work, we’ve got holofilms to watch!”

The assembly of the fort went quickly. Cipher and Mill spread out a thick duvet as a base layer, then stacked pillows around its perimeter. Explore and Surveil hung one of the sheets from the ceiling with thumbtacks, creating a sort of tent around the duvet that draped over the pillow wall. Morph reached into the pocket of his knapsack and pulled out a flimsi bag of glow in the dark stars, which he began to stick to the ceiling inside of the tent. 

“It looks good!” Cipher whispered, putting her hands on her hips and smiling at her batchmates.

Explore was already on his hands and knees, crawling through the little gap in the pillow wall. As soon as his feet disappeared into the fort, he made a soft sound of awe.

“ _ Vod’e, _ get in here! It’s so cool!” He whisper-shouted, and his batchmates immediately crouched and crawled in after him, one after another. Once they were all inside and comfortably spaced, they looked around with wonder in their eyes.

The glow in the dark stars were shining faintly, and the light softly illuminated the inside of the fort, giving it a cozy atmosphere.

“I’m so glad you shared your idea with us, Mill,” Surveil said, knocking her shoulder against theirs. “This is real nice.”

“‘m glad that you like it,” Mill chirped, reaching for the knapsack on Morph’s shoulder. “Let’s set up the holofilm!” Morph obligingly handed the bag over, then grabbed a couple of the extra pillows and began to arrange them into a comfortable pile for them to lean up against. 

Mill dug around in the knapsack and produced a portable holoprojector, along with a few holodisks. Most of them were romance holos that they’d watched with General Ti before, but there were a few animated adventure holos mixed in as well. As they began to set up the holoprojector, Explore began to pull an assortment of snacks and a few bottled drinks out of the bag. For Mill, Surveil, and Cipher there were glass bottles of meiloorun juice, and for himself and Morph there were two bottles of sweet flower steeped tea. Flimsi crinkled under his fingers as he extracted a large bag of tuber crisps, a resealable pouch of fruit gummies in assorted flavors, and a handful of chocolate flavored snack bars.

“What are we in the mood for,  _ vod’e? _ ” Mill asked, holding up a few of the holodisks.

“You know I’m gonna vote for  _ Mamma Mia! _ , why are you even asking?” Morph teased, and his squadmates groaned.

“Morph, please, can’t you pick something else for once?” Cipher griped good naturedly, lying back against the pillows with her bottle of juice in hand. “We always end up in a tie because you never pick anything but that silly musical.”

“Just because it’s silly doesn’t mean it’s not good,” Morph replied primly, stealing the bag of gummies from Explore and snuggling up next to her. His batchmates nodded in agreement —  _ Mamma Mia! _ was indeed a good holofilm, and was beloved by most of the  _ Vode An _ for its ridiculous drama and catchy musical numbers.

“Well, I’m in the mood to see  _ The Mandalorian’s Dilemma, _ ” Surveil offered as she stretched out with her head on Morph’s belly, and Explore nodded.

“I’m in favor of that,” he offered. “But really, I’m good with watching anything. What about you, Cipher?”

“Uuuuhhh...” Cipher screwed up her face in thought, then made grabby hands at the collection of holodisks in Mill’s hands. “Lemme see ‘em,  _ vod _ , I forget what we brought with us.” Obligingly, Mill handed the disks over, and Cipher began to sort through them. 

“Well, I guess  _ My Own Soul’s Warning _ will do.” she settled after a minute, waving a holodisk with two men holding each other dramatically on a battlefield printed on the protective case at Mill.

“Isn’t that the one that’s a poorly disguised dramatization of how General Kenobi and the Prime met?” Morph asked, the tuber crisp bag in his hands crinkling loudly as he opened it up.

“Yeah, but  _ ori’vod _ Cody says it’s good,” she shrugged, handing the holodisks back to Mill. “Just you now,  _ vod. _ What’s it gonna be?” Mill made a face and rubbed a hand through their curls.

“... honestly, I kinda wanna watch  _ Mamma Mia!, _ ” they said, and Morph punched the air in triumph. “That okay with you three?” Cipher waved them off, smiling around a mouthful of tuber crisps.

“It’s cool,  _ vod, _ put the disk in and get comfortable!” she said, patting the unoccupied space on the duvet next to her. Mill nodded and put the rest of the holodisks away, clicking the  _ Mamma Mia! _ one into the holoprojector before setting it down on the fluffy floor of the pillow fort and crawling over to snuggle into their  _ vod’s _ side.

The holoprojector began to cycle through the previews and holoflim trailers from twelve years beforehand as they all got comfortable, passing the snacks and drinks out to their recipients. 

As Sophie and her friends snooped in her mother’s diary, Explore set his head on Surveil’s shoulder and let out a soft sigh of contentment.

“ _ Vod’e, _ I love you.”

“We love you too, Explore,” Morph said, knocking their knees together gently.

**Author's Note:**

> Jury's still out on whether or not Master Nu notices them before they pack up and leave. I hope you enjoyed it, Rabbit! Happy holidays!


End file.
